Swindon Wildcats must beat Basingstoke Bison twice in NIHL play-offs to progress

Swindon have to beat Basingstoke on both nights while hoping Sheffield Steeldogs can record consecutive victories against Peterborough Phantoms if the Wiltshire club is to progress to finals weekend in Coventry.

The Wildcats suffered a tough weekend last time out, going down 5-3 at the Link Centre before a 6-2 reverse in South Yorkshire the following night.

Reflecting on a disastrous weekend of results, head coach Nell felt his team could have come away with two more points than they did.

He said: “We came back really well in the game on Saturday night.

“There was a frustrating penalty with two minutes to go that cost us, but we did really well to get back into the game and we were the better team for the second and third period. To give up that goal at the end was a killer for us.

“It’s always tough going to Sheffield, even though we’ve done quite well there this year, and I don't think the score reflected the story of the game.

“But we didn’t deserve to win anyway, and it wasn’t good enough.”

Top of Group B, Sheffield are well-fancied to progress to Coventry but only need one win in order to do so.

Nell says his team cannot worry about the result of another team and must simply get their own job done before hoping it is enough to continue the season for a little while longer.

The Wildcats head coach said: “We’ve got to win both and Sheffield have got to win twice, but it’s still possible even though the odds are slim.

“We’re still going to push and give our all. We’ve got to do everything we can to put ourselves in a position where we’re able to go through.

“It’s a tough situation, but there’s still hope and we’ll try to win both games.

“If we don’t go through then the end of the season will have been a disappointment.

“We were great at the start of the season and we won the first trophy, so that probably makes it even more frustrating now.